A-Z People Index

Sort by:

The impact of free trade, and more generally globalization,
is a ready source of public debate, and the
reach of that debate is broadening. When the impact
of increasing foreign competition was felt mainly by
the manufacturing sector (call this “stage one” of the
free trade/globalization debate), the view of many, if
not most, economists was strikingly uniform: Trade
generates large net benefits to national economies.
The gains accrue to consumers from lower prices and
to the overall economy in efficiency, leading to higher
aggregate welfare. Within the economics profession,
there is similar, if less visible, agreement that
liberalized trade reduces incomes to some producers
and workers. With (large) net benefits, a common
professional view of the question of “free trade” is a
distributional one—that the distribution of the benefits
from free trade, across industries, occupations,
regions, and ultimately individuals, is uneven.